Department of Rheumatology

The Florance and Cope Professorial Department of Rheumatology brings together scientific researchers and medical clinicians with a common interest in improving outcomes for those with musculoskeletal conditions.

We are currently conducting research into the causes, impact and treatment of a wide range of disorders in addition to raising awareness of the burden of musculoskeletal conditions.

Our aim is to advance the understanding of the musculoskeletal system. The main focus of our research includes clinical and translational research in inflammatory arthritis, osteoarthritis, low back pain and other rheumatic diseases. While these areas are a focus, our clinicians and researchers are also investigating osteonecrosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.

Our researchers are members of national and international advisory committees that raise awareness and promote care and research on musculoskeletal conditions. We are the Home Office for the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Conditions.

We are the national lead site for A3BC – the Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune diseases Biobank Collaborative, and we encourage the involvement of patient research partners in all our projects.

We aim to make precision medicine – giving the targeted right treatment to the right patient at the right time – a reality. Through all of our work we are building a national resource to work towards a cure for musculoskeletal conditions

Lead

Professor Lyn March AM

Liggins Professor of Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology Medicine, Northern Clinical School
Senior Staff Specialist and Head of the Department of Rheumatology at Royal North Shore Hospital

People

Associate Professor Sean O'Neill

Associate Professor Rheumatology, Northern Clinical School
Member of the Australian Lupus Registry and Biobank
Member of the Asia Pacific Lupus Collaboration

Dr Rodger Laurent

Clinical Senior Lecturer
Medicine, Northern Clinical School

Associate Professor Leslie Schrieber

Medicine, Northern Clinical School
Honorary Associate Professor. Northern Clinical School
Consultant Rheumatologist

Dr Premarani Sinnathurai

Clinical Lecturer. Northern Clinical School
Consultant Rheumatologist, Royal North Shore Hospital

Dr Shirley Yu

Clinical Lecturer, Northern Clinical School, University of Sydney
Staff specialist, Royal North Shore Hospital, Department of Rheumatology

Dr Marita Cross

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Northern Clinical School

Network

The aim of the rheumatology department is to advance the understanding of the musculoskeletal system. The main focus of our research includes clinical and translational research in osteoarthritis, low back pain and other rheumatic diseases.

Using a combination of clinical, data science and laboratory research methods this PhD project aims to investigate predictors and predictive models of inflammatory arthritis using samples and data from a national biobank-registry project, the Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune Biobank Collaborative (A3BC) and Australian Rheumatology Association Database (ARAD). The primary hypothesis is that inflammatory arthritis outcomes can be predicted and optimised by integrating diverse predictor variables across clinical, biological, self-reported, biometric and administrative health data domains to inform critical management decisions at key timepoints in the disease course. The ultimate goals of this field are improved population medicine policy and practice in the form of new, improved and more targeted treatments, better preventative and management strategies and, ideally, progress towards complete cures for these diseases. The expected research contribution is a thesis containing a series of publications around the common themes of personalised / precision medicine in inflammatory arthritis, predictive modelling, and the role of biobank-registries in facilitating this type of research.

https://kollinginstitute.org.au/osteoarthritis-research

https://kollinginstitute.org.au/back-pain-research

https://kollinginstitute.org.au/sutton-arthritis-research-laboratory

Projects

The causes, impact and treatment of a wide range of musculoskeletal/ rheumatological disorders.
Key research areas: inflammatory arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, etc), systemic lupus erythematosus, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, low back pain.
Development and implementation of evidence-based clinical guidelines.
Global Burden of Diseases Study (Musculoskeletal disorders).
The A3BC Biobank (https://a3bc.org.au/)
ARAD (https://www.arad.org.au/Public/Home.aspx)
Baricitinib therapy for rheumatoid arthritis: an observational study.